In a effort to jumpstart its expansion, Tape House Toons (THT), New York, has signed three directors/designers: Arnie Levin, John Schnall and David Chomowicz.
This follows the January hiring of independent national rep Colin Giles, who was appointed to oversee sales and marketing and help turn the animation house into what THT’s executive producer Rob Issen called "a full fledged production and design company."
While THT has traditionally concentrated on film and television animation, Issen said, "Commercials are the next step. It’s a very good time to do it. We brought Colin Giles on board, and he was able to connect us with talent in the design world."
THT’s past spots include "Nike All NYC" for Wieden + Kennedy, New York and "The Listener" for WQXR, via McCaffery Ratner Gottlieb & Lane, New York. However, said Issen, "Many of the spots we’ve done were for other animators, and that was not leading to the exposure we were looking for." So now, "we’re turning our attention from episodes to spots."
The company has worked on projects for Saturday Night Live’s TV Funhouse and HBO’s Goodnight Moon and Other Sleepytime Tales, directed and produced by Amy Schatz. Earlier this month (3/11), Schatz won a Directors Guild of America Award in the children’s programs category for the half-hour show. Michael Sporn, who directed and produced the Goodnight Moon animation segment, hired THT to do digital ink and paint. When Sporn wanted another look, Issen said, "We suggested a 3-D version, using a toon shader technique to make it look flat. At that point, THT’s Luciano DiGeronimo did the 3-D animation."
Though the directors are not currently animating spots, all have made commercials in the past. Levin directed a Chevrolet spot for J. Walter Thompson New York, and a Dristan ad for the now defunct William Esty. Chomowicz made WNET-TV Thirteen’s "Celebrity Spots" for Compelling Content, New York, and, with THT, co-directed/ designed the CBS spots "Whistle," "Double Take," and "Blush" for Adler Boscetto Peebles & Partners, New York. Schnall made Honda’s "Haring" for Rubin Postaer and Associates, Santa Monica, and AT&T’s "Small Business" for Ogilvy & Mather, New York, among others.
Issen is enthusiastic about the new recruits: "Arnie has done a lot of commercials, he’s been in the animation business for over 40 years. Chomowicz’s experience is more with opening title sequences and promos, but he’s also done live action work. He’s very inventive. And John Schnall has a lot of experience in episode animation, so he has a very strong sense of the demands of character animation. He’s an extremely good artist and a fine director, and that combination is not so easy to come by. Hiring these people brings a tremendous amount of momentum to the company."
Issen explained that some of THT’s strengths are watercolor techniques and flattened 3-D, which he described as "basically 3-D with a cartoon shader." He added, "But it’s really a complete facility, a one-stop shop. With the spectrum of design skills we have, we can also have a more graphic style."
THT is a subsidiary of the Tape House Companies. In its 3000-square-foot facility, THT has resources that include Inferno, Henry and D-1 edit suites, a hi-def edit room, as well as film-to-tape and film-to-data transfer and digital film recording operations.
